CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Drake Bulldogs softball team collected another sweep Saturday (April 11) afternoon as the Bulldogs claimed two wins at Southern Illinois. Drake rallied for a 3-2 victory over SIU in game one before claiming a 4-1 victory in the second game. The Bulldogs improve to 23-12 overall and 12-2 in the Missouri Valley Conference with the wins as they remain in first place in the conference standings.
Held to just one hit and trailing 2-0 going in to the top of the seventh of game one, the Bulldogs' bats came alive in the final inning. Senior Hayley Nybo (Minnetonka, Minn.) drew a walk to start the frame and fellow senior Rebekah Schmidt (Cottage Grove, Minn.) followed with her fifth home run of the season as Drake pulled even with SIU at 2-2. One batter later freshman Tasha Alexander (Eddyville, Iowa) launched a solo home run, her second career home run, to give the Bulldogs the lead at 3-2.
In the bottom of the seventh, Schmidt and SIU's first batter, Brooke Womack, went back-and-forth in an eight-pitch at-bat before Schmidt finally struck her out. Schmidt needed just four pitches to retire the next two batters to complete the comeback win.
Schmidt tossed her 14th complete game of the year allowing just two runs on five hits with five strikeouts as she improved to 13-8. The win is the 50th of her career, which ranks sixth all-time in program history. Schmidt led the Bulldogs at the plate with two hits.
The Bulldogs carried the offensive momentum from game one to game two. In the first inning, Nybo ripped a two-out double that scored senior Laura Brewer (Waukee, Iowa) for the game's first run. One inning later, freshman Kelsey Wright smoked a two-run triple, her team-high third three-bagger of the season, to extend Drake's lead to 3-0.
Brewer added an insurance run in the fifth inning with a solo blast. She and Nybo are now tied for the team lead in home runs with seven each. Brewer and Nybo led Drake with two hits in the game and also scored twice. Nybo finished with two doubles and now has 10 on the season. She has 39 in her career, which is tied for third in program history.
Freshman Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.) pitched an outstanding game allowing just one run on two hits while equaling her career high with 11 strikeouts. Newman didn't allow a hit until the sixth inning and the only damage occurred in the seventh off a solo by Meri Ann Patterson. She improved to 10-3 with the win.
The teams close out the series with a single game on Sunday with first pitch scheduled for noon.
